The present invention relates to a business microscope system for visualizing the state of an organization, and more particularly to a sensor node which is a terminal for obtaining and transmitting physical quantities in such a system.
Productivity improvement is an important issue for all kinds of organizations. Many experimental trials are taking place to improve work environments and to streamline operations. When limited to organizations such as factories involved in assembly or delivery operation, it is possible to objectively analyze the performance by pursuing the movement track of parts or products. However, with respect to white-collar organizations involved in knowledge work activities such as clerical work, sales, and planning in which goods and works are not directly connected, it is difficult to evaluate such organizations by observing goods. Primarily, the reason for forming an organization is that plural persons work together to achieve large scale operations unable to be done by an individual. Thus, decisions and agreements are typically made by two or more persons in any kind of organization. The decisions and agreements would depend on the relationship among persons, and thus the productivity would depend on its success or failure. Here, the relationship may be labeled, for example, as a manager, a subordinate, or a friend. It may also include mutual feelings such as like, dislike, confidence, or influence. Communication is a very important tool for establishing a face-to-face relationship. For this reason, the relationship could be examined by obtaining records of communications.
One method of detecting face-to-face communication uses a sensor network. The sensor network is a technology that is applied to obtain and control a state, by terminals equipped with sensors and a wireless communication circuit, which are attached to an environment, objects, persons and the like to extract various types of information from the sensors through wireless communication. Physical quantities are obtained by the sensors for detecting such communication. Examples of the physical quantity include infrared radiation for detecting face-to-face communication state, voice for detecting speech and environment, and acceleration for detecting activity and movements of a person.
The business microscope system is a system that visualizes the state of an organization by detecting the movements of persons and the face-to-face communication from the physical quantities obtained by sensors. That is, the business microscope system helps to improve the organization.
The physical quantities obtained by sensors are important for analyzing a face-to-face communication, in connection with the time at which an event occurs and its context, as well as the relationship between physical quantities obtained by different sensors. If any data goes missing, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the face-to-face communication. Thus, the data should be continuously obtained as long as the terminal is attached.
Generally, there are two major factors that cause the missing data obtained by the terminal of the sensor network. The first involves the power supply. When the battery is exhausted and changed, the power is interrupted during that time, and the physical quantities are not obtained or communicated by the sensors. The second involves the problem of communication. The distance of wireless communication is limited. If a terminal and a base station are separated at a certain distance or farther, it is difficult to communicate with each other. Also, the communicable distance is reduced under noisy environment, or by obstacles on the communication path or other problems.
Technologies have been developed to perform sensing and communication while charging a secondary battery incorporated in a terminal, for continuous acquisition and communication of sensor information, as disclosed in JP-A 2006-312010, JP-A 2004-178045, and JP-A 2004-235965.